The Mueller report might still be dominating headlines, but now that it came back empty, it’s actually the least important issue in the country. We learned what we all knew from the beginning. With that distraction out of the way, it’s important that we focus our efforts on the key issues.
President Trump has done a lot for this country, but one of his biggest promises is still hitting major obstacles. We desperately need a border wall, and the left is stonewalling this issue with everything they have left. It’s time to punch back. One of the key talking points they use against the wall is plain wrong, and we’re going to prove it.
The Drug Problem
There are very few times the left and right agree on anything these days. They’ll probably try to tell you that the sky isn’t blue . . . One issue that seems to get universal agreement is that the United States has a drug problem. We even all agree that a dangerous number of drugs come across the border. In fact, the drug epidemic is so serious that scholars are blaming it for the recent decline in life expectancy in this country (although some of us wonder how much responsibility lies with Obamacare).
That’s where the agreement ends. The left tells us that the majority of drugs flow into the country through ports of entry. Because of that, they argue that a wall is unnecessary to battle the drug problem. We’ll deal with the flaws in this logic in a minute. For now, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that this is logically sound. This talking point just took a beating.
New Data
Let’s be fair to the left. At one point, the DEA did say that only a small percentage of heroin that enters the country came through gaps in border defense. The majority does in fact come through ports of entry. But, if you look at total drug data, you get a very different picture.
According to Border Patrol, they seized 480,000 pounds of drugs that crossed open sections of the border. Conversely, only 370,000 pounds of drugs were seized at ports of entry. An additional 200,000 pounds came along open coastline. So, if you tally the scoreboard, it’s clear that the biggest and most urgent problem is along the open border.
Keep in mind that these are complete drug totals. Heroin might be an exception, but a plurality of heroin in the country is manufactured here anyway. When you look at the rest of the list of drugs, hard or “soft,” the majority all come through gaps in the border.
Build the Wall
Here’s the crux of the issue. It wouldn’t matter if we had this data. The wall would still be necessary. Let’s go back to assuming most drugs come through ports of entry for a minute. That’s an argument for the wall. It works in two ways.
First, if any drugs at all are coming through gaping holes in border security, we should probably plug those holes. Second, a wall funnels more traffic into the ports of entry. It reduces the resources we have to expend patrolling thousands of miles of border, and it enables us to concentrate personnel and technology at the ports. By building the wall, we free up resources that will catch more drugs passing through the ports.
There’s another elephant in the room here. Drugs aren’t the only problem crossing our southern border. Human trafficking and illegal immigration are additional issues that need resolving, and those both clearly exploit border gaps. The easiest way to smuggle human beings into this country is along the thousands of miles of unprotected border, and it happens every day. If you care at all about stopping human trafficking into the United States, you have to support the wall. In every way, it’s the best step we can take right now.
Here’s the final point in all of this. No one is stupid enough to think that we can build a wall and dust our hands of problems. Obviously people will always find a way around the wall. It will still reduce the problem. If the wall lowered illegal immigration and trafficking by only 10 percent, it would pay for itself in less than five years.
The point is that the wall creates a clear obstacle, and policing the innovations that circumvent the wall is much easier than trying to man a defense against the overwhelming gaps that we have right now.
Border Patrol has been saying this for years. Anyone who is against the wall is either stupid or in support of the crimes and acts of evil that cross our border every day.
